Barry Ferguson turns Clement's Rangers 'disgrace' into 'genius' as Chris Sutton points out hypocrisy of Ibrox praise

Philippe Clement came in for stinging criticism from Rangers supporters for his decision to hook youngster Bailey Rice at half-time during the club’s Scottish Cup exit at the hands Queen’s Park earlier this month.

Last night against Kilmarnock, new interim boss Barry Ferguson was lauded a “genius” for his major call to take centre-back Clinton Nsiala out of the firing life just half an hour into his first match in charge at Rugby Park.

With the Ibrox side trailing 2-0 at the time, Ferguson opted to replace the Frenchman with Ridvan Yilmaz following another shaky defensive display - a decision that turned the tide in the visitors favour as they hit back in emphatic style to run out 4-2 winners in Ayrshire.

Nsiala - a project signing from AC Milan last summer - was at fault for both of St Mirren’s goal at the weekend and he picked up where he left off on the artificial surface at Killie by appearing somewhat out of his depth.

That led pundit and Celtic icon Chris Sutton, who was covering the Premiership clash as part of Sky Sports’ coverage, to post on X: “Philippe Clement was a disgrace for taking Bailey Rice off… Barry Ferguson was a genius taking Clinton Nsiala off... Football eh…”

Rangers captain James Tavernier has put an arm round Nsiala by voicing his support of his defensive teammate, insisting he will bounce back.

He told Sky Sports: “We let ourselves down first 30 minutes, we didn't compete the way we should have. It was about calming ourselves down at half-time. We just needed the character to keep going. Competing is the minimum, matching their intensity and being ruthless in the second half.

“Clinton Nsiala can't put his head down, as a whole team, we defended well. The boys responded really well but that's the minimum as a Rangers player. Now it's about being consistent with such standards.”